The Dubai-based International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) will attend an upcoming meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) at the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC, reports said Friday.
The Emirati delegation will be led by ICBA director general Mohammed Al Attar, who has reiterated the decision by Gulf states to join the group next year.
According to the Khaleej Times, the Gulf countries decided last year to join the CGIAR in the year 2002 in order to maximize their benefits from the group's research and development programs.
ICBA, a partner research center of the CGIAR, will be the sole representative of agricultural research activities from the Gulf countries at the meeting, said the daily.
The CGIAR is an association of 58 public and private members supporting a system of 16 Future Harvest Centers, which were created in 1971 to work in more than 100 countries to mobilize cutting-edge science to reduce hunger and poverty, improve human nutrition and health, and protect the environment.
Some of these centers played a pivotal role in the Green Revolution in India in the 1960s.
The CGIAR partnership includes 22 developing and 21 industrialized countries, three private foundations, and 12 regional and international organizations that provide financing, technical support and strategic direction. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank serve as cosponsors – Albawaba.com
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